Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Both NBC and CNN report the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency responsible for housing immigrant children under the age of 18 who cross the border unaccompanied, is operating near capacity with facilities overwhelmed and crowded.

Department of Defense spokesman Major Chris Mitchell told NBC that no decision has been made but HHS would soon be touring Fort Benning with defense officials.

“Health and Human Services will conduct a site assessment of DOD property for potential future use by HHS as temporary emergency influx shelter for unaccompanied alien children (UAC) at Fort Benning, Georgia,” Mitchell said to NBC.

“DOD officials will join the HHS staff as they tour the property available for potential future use. HHS will make the determination if the site will be used for UAC operations. This effort will have no impact on DOD’s ability to conduct its primary missions nor on military readiness,” he told NBC.

According to the non-profit Mental Health America of Georgia, the state ranks 47 out of 50 for access to mental health care, resources and insurance.

In Georgia, one in five people with a serious mental illness has a better chance of ending up in a prison than getting adequate treatment at a mental health facility, according to officials.

“In Baldwin County, a small county, we spend out of the general funds of the county, $150,000 to $200,000 a year just on psychotropic drugs for those who are mentally ill,” [Baldwin County Commissioner Henry] Craig said. “The cost of housing those persons who are mentally ill in the county is very expensive, and in Baldwin County alone, 60 to 65 percent of all of our prisoners in the jail are mentally ill. We must do something different. … The largest mental institution right now in the country is the Los Angeles County Jail, the second largest mental institution right now is the Dade County Jail in Miami. And in Baldwin County, the largest mental institution is the county jail.”

In Thomasville, the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office spends hundreds of man-hours transporting mentally ill people to out-of-town mental-health facilities. To date this year, the sheriff’s office has transported 267 people, driving 8,515 miles requiring more than 53 hours. Last year, transports totaled 986, with 83,884 miles driven in more than 849 hours.

It’s the issue of how Muscogee County compiles its jury pools — which are lists of potential jurors for court cases.

The issue of fairness and racial makeup of juries has recently been brought to the U.S. Supreme Court, but in 2012 Georgia made a rule to help ensure all jury pools are representative of each county’s overall population and demographics.

In 2017, the state Supreme Court ruled that the way a Canadian vendor called Courthouse Technologies compiled lists of potential jurors for Fulton County violated that rule.

But Muscogee County still uses that vendor.

Judge Gil McBride, chief judge of the six-county Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, twice this year held hearings on Muscogee County’s jury-selection issue. After the hearings, on April 10, McBride ruled against the defense, deciding any alterations Courthouse Technologies made to the jury list before Haynie and Phillips were indicted in 2016 were not significant enough to quash the indictment.

State Sen. Renee Unterman is set to join the race for Georgia’s 7th District on Thursday, intensifying a polarizing race for one of the nation’s most competitive U.S. House seats and sharpening a debate over abortion rights.

The Republican will announce her candidacy at a rally Thursday in her hometown of Buford, in an attempt to contrast with lesser-known rivals who entered the race with splashy TV ads and polished websites but no public events.

Unterman’s entry into the race to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall will shift the focus of the campaign squarely toward the anti-abortion “heartbeat” measure that’s divided Georgia politics.

“Ensuring Americans have clean water for drinking and recreation is a national priority, and EPA is doing its part to make sure our coastal and Great Lakes waters are clean and healthy for beachgoers this summer,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a news release.

“These grants will increase public information about water quality at our beaches and help our state and local partners conduct testing and address potential sources of contamination.”

“We want people to feel confident that their beach is healthy and clean,” Jill Andrews, chief of Coastal Management with Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resources Division, said. “We test our beaches weekly and notify the public immediately of swimming advisories. Results are posted online and at beach access points. Fortunately for Georgia beachgoers, swim advisories are not the norm.”

A lot. Jesus was a very caring man regardless of people’s backgrounds, regardless of people’s affiliations, and I believe that’s the message He wants to teach everyone in the world. Just to be kind to everyone. To help everyone. In today’s modernized world, I believe if you have the ability and skill to help someone, do it.

Do you believe that’s the role of a public official? Someone who helps others?

That’s correct. But more than help others. It’s help the community be better. There are a lot of different personalities, a lot of needs and wants in the community, but as a public official you should do what’s best for everyone.

Why did you decide to run for commission?

I had been active in the community behind the scenes for a few years; working with nonprofits, helping other people campaign. When you talk to people you start collecting a dialogue. You start hearing the needs and wants of people. I just felt that I would be able to do a better job in executing those (ideas) the people in the community had.

One of the biggest problems I know we have on the eastside is ambulance service. A lot of the elected officials didn’t talk much about the ambulance service. … A lot of retirees live in that district. I want to be a voice for those individuals, making sure we’re at least addressing some of those issues like ambulance service.

A Whitfield County grand jury declined to indict Grant last week for felony theft by taking for providing a county-owned, encrypted radio to a Dalton wrecker service.

Grant, who had been placed on paid administrative leave on April 30 after District Attorney Bert Poston said he would present evidence from a Georgia Bureau of Investigation report to the grand jury, will return to duty on Wednesday. His two-year contract with the city runs through December, and Dickson said Grant will retire after he completes the contract.

Grant declined to answer questions from a reporter after the council members met in executive session for 20 minutes and emerged to vote 5-0 to reinstate him.

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